Oh, I see! moments
Travel Cultures Language

Everything is Pawssible at the Arles Photo Festival

by Meredith Mullins on July 23, 2018

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Casual, a photo by William Wegman in 2002, shown at the Rencontres d'Arles (Arles Photo Festival). (Image © William Wegman.)

Candy stars in Casual (2002)
© William Wegman (Courtesy of the artist)

William Wegman Makes Us Smile

What’s the best way to experience William Wegman’s “Being Human” exhibit at the 2018 Rencontres d’Arles (Arles Photo Festival)?

Spend time with Wegman’s original 20 x 24 Polaroid prints—but also take note of the faces of the visitors.

Everyone is smiling.

We’re smiling at dogs sporting festive wigs, or arching majestically on shapes of color, or agilely balancing things on their nose or head, or morphing into other animals like a giraffelant, or going about the daily tasks of living (with a surreptitious set of human hands).

Finding the Spirit of Monet’s Giverny Gardens

by Meredith Mullins on July 9, 2018

View of the Japanese bridge with wisteria in Monet's Giverny Gardens, travel inspiration for the senses. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Monet’s Giverny Gardens
© Meredith Mullins

Travel Inspiration for the Senses

Finding a moment of solitude in Monet’s Giverny gardens may not be easy, with the constant parade of visitors. But the colors, smells, sounds, and spirit offer travel inspiration of the best kind.

A visit is worth the investment of time, and the search for quiet and connection is rewarding in a world that inspired Monet’s painting for more than 40 years.

Once the selfies are done and most of the visitors have left in the late afternoon (or when you’re visiting in the early mist of morning), there is a magic moment when the subtleties and power of nature emerge.

Oradour-sur-Glane: A Story Stopped in Time and Memory

by Meredith Mullins on June 26, 2018

Rusted out cars in front of a burned out building in Oradour sur Glane, France, the site of the cultural history of a Nazi massacre during WW II. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

The sobering story of the Nazi obliteration of an entire village
© Meredith Mullins

A Moment of WW II Cultural History that Should Not Be Forgotten

I knew the “Oh, I see” Moment would be memorable. The lump in my throat began to build long before I got close to Oradour-sur-Glane.

As the green of the Limousin countryside flew by and the road signs of well-known World War II French villages came and went, I was in full time-travel mode back to June 1944 . . . filled with a gut-wrenching sadness.

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